Recently, the Ministry of Commerce extended the review period of the merger and acquisition of the wireless sector Motorola Solutions Inc. (MSI) by Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) for up to an additional 60 days, making NSN’s plan to get approval in the first quarter of this year delayed. This deal shows that under the framework of WTO, China’s commerce authority is more flexible and intelligent when dealing with trade-related issues and also demonstrates that Chinese enterprises are more and more mature in the march to overseas markets.

Last July, NSN announced a 12 billion purchase of most of the wireless network infrastructure assets of MSI, which need to go through regulatory approvals by 9 countries and regions. According to AFP reports, if NSN completed this acquisition, it would rose to the second place in the world in its industry. Except China, NSN has got regulatory approvals from all the other eight countries and regions.The delay of NSN’s acquisition is largely attributed to the dispute between Motorola and Huawei on IPR and trade secrets. It is of great relevance whether the dispute can reach a smooth settlement. It is reported that the purchase of NSN involves a good deal of Huawei's IPR. In the wake of the news of this acquisition, Huawei—the competitor of NSN in China—filed a lawsuit in the United States in February this year and won. In that legal battle, Huawei demanded the regulatory approval of NSN’s acquisition of Motorola's wireless network sector not to be proceeded until the IP disputes was resolved. The related court in the United States issued a preliminary injunction to MSI, requiring no Huawei’s confidential information should be transferred to NSN, MSI should hire an independent third party to inspect safe removal of Huawei’s confidential information, and Huawei were granted the right to audit NSN’s service records of its maintenance of MSI’s equipments.

(Source: IP Channel of People's Daily Online)